Kira is a female given name of ancient origin and multiple etymological derivations.

The girl’s name Kira is pronounced /ˈkɪərə/KEER-ə. It might be a female form of the name Kiran, pronounced /ˈkɪərən/KEER-ən. Kiran is of Hindi and Sanskrit origin, meaning “beam of light”. Besides Sanskrit, there might be other etymologies from the Egyptian, where the word Ki-Ra curiously means "like Ra" also, or the Persian.[1] Due to the Greek interpretation of the Persian king's name Kourosh (کوروش, Kūrosh) as Κύρος (Kýros) – which was obviously modeled after the Greek word κύριος (kýrios "lord"), the female form being κυρία (kyría) – Kyra (or Kira) can also be understood as a variant of this originally Persian name of uncertain signification.[2] Therefore it is also in use as a female form of the Greek diminutive form Cyril. Cyrus was the name of several kings of Persia, including Cyrus the Great, who conquered Babylon. He is famous in the Old Testament for freeing the captive Jews and allowing them to return to Israel.[3]

In Russian Kira (Ки́ра) is the feminine form of the male name Kir, meaning "mistress, ruler", but can translate to "leader of the people", "one the people look to" or "beloved".[4] Furthermore, also in Russian, Kira can be dependent from the Persian-Greek name Kyra.

Kira is one of several Anglicized forms of the Celtic name Ciara, which in Gaelic means "dark".[5]

There is also a Japanese name, romanized as Kira, which is common in Japan, as both given name and family name. Kira kira also means "glittery, shiny" in Japanese. Also in Japanese, it was derived from the English word "killer".[6]